Man shot dog on school grounds, boys say

SAN ANGELO, Texas - The Tom Green County Sheriff’s Department is investigating a shooting Sunday at the Grape Creek Independent School District playing fields.

An unidentified man shot and killed a dog belonging to a 13-year-old boy while the boy and his two companions looked on only a few feet away, according to the sheriff’s department and the boys’ mothers.

Grape Creek resident Jennifer Wallace called the sheriff’s department Sunday afternoon to tell them her dog had been shot and killed near the school’s FFA livestock pens behind the football field, according to a deputy’s report.

The dog was lying on a dirt mound with a 13-year-old boy nearby when a man who had arrived at the fields in a gray pickup truck took out a rifle, propped it on the vehicle and shot the 10-year-old Labrador mix, Wallace said.

The three 13-year-old boys are seventh-graders at the Grape Creek school, according to one of the boy’s mothers.

The three boys and the dog were on the field playing when the driver of a grayish brown pickup truck unlocked the gate and parked by the livestock pens, the report said. The boys, thinking they might get in trouble for being on the field, hid with the dog on a dirt mound about 50 yards away from the vehicle, according to the report.

After a while, a white SUV drove onto the field and parked opposite the pickup where, the boys told investigators, the two drivers talked. According to the boys’ statement in the report, the shooter was a white male with brown cowboy boots and a hat. The shot was dangerously close to the boys, said one of their mothers.

“He heard the bullet whistle right by his head,” said Nicole Feller. Her son, she said, was approximately five feet from the dog when it was shot. “He said, ‘Mama I just hunkered down and stayed real still until the two guys left,’” Feller said.

The bullet hit the dog in the chest, according to the boys, and the pet gasped for air and whimpered before falling over dead. The bullet went through its body, Feller said. As the dog was dying, the boys stayed completely still on the mound of dirt and out of sight, just in case more shots were fired, she said.

The two vehicles immediately left the field, one of the drivers locking the gate behind them, and the boys went running to Wallace’s house, according to the report.

Deputy Keith Muncy interviewed the three boys at the field and could not find any weapons nearby. About 50 yards from the mound in the school’s field, he found a .243 caliber shell casing.

Shortly after the incident, a deputy pulled over a white SUV in the area matching the description but advised in the report it was not the suspect’s vehicle.

Grape Creek school superintendent Frank Walter and athletic director Brad Bowden were interviewed by the deputies about the incident.

“The law says you cannot have a firearm on public school property. We definitely follow that rule,” Walter said. “The boys weren’t breaking any rules. Anyone is allowed on that field as long as they aren’t tearing anything up or any sort of vandalism.”

Walter said a number of people ranging from staff to FFA students have keys to that gate.

“The dog had just turned 10 years old, and he is calm — not out to hurt anybody,” Wallace said. “The way (the shooter) shot the dog, he must have seen the kids. ... We’re lucky none of the boys were hurt from the gunfire.”